Friday, June 04, 2010

Celery Chingri -- Celery with Shrimp

When I was a kid, I thought becoming an adult was the answer to all my woes. You could sleep in late, spend money to buy as many Archie comics as you could read not and you did not have to eat vegetables.

Little did I know what I was in for.

I mean being an adult is ok and everything but you never get to do the things you had imagined and you DO EAT vegetables. The worst part is you eat them even when no one is forcing you to and you even shop for them.

Take Celery. I never had tasted a celery until I started going to BS's pre-school kiddie birthday parties a couple of years ago. These would be at one jumping place or the other and kids would have pizza while all the parents were offered was carrot sticks and celery ribs with a veggie dip. I loved the dip, I thought the celery was an instrument to scoop up that delicious dip. To eat them was blah.

I would still get celery to put in a soup or something or to rot in the refrigerator until LS's Nanny last year said "Didi apnara celery'r tarkari khan na"(Didi don't you eat celery sabzi). She must have recognized me as the ideal candidate to go on a celery diet.

I got the celery and she made a dish, Celery Chingri, a sabzi with celery and shrimp. It really was good, way better than anything with celery could have tasted. Like it wasn't something to die for but it was decent and would make for a nice side dish and it had shrimps, so why complain.

At this point though, let me tell you, if celery is not a vegetable local to where you are, like if you are in Cambodia and you have never seen your Mom cook celery DO NOT go out and buy if it is overpriced. It is not worth it. In that case just eat the shrimp.

And what is the Paprika doing in the picture you might ask ? It is NOT in the dish, the dish has red chili Powder, no mild paprika. The Paprika is what a harassed BongMom gives to the toddler to distract, so that she can take a pic on an overloaded work night. The outcome is not good, the pic lighted with no fancy Lowell ego but plain-jane side table lamps does not exactly glamorize the celery and the paprika has been dumped on the beige carpet. If I never ever blog again you know why.

Entries for Of Chalks and ChopSticks is welcome until Friday June 10th, midnight simply because I have not posted my entry yet. Tee hee !! I am the Super Power at least this one time.

Add 1 tsp of roasted corriander powder and 1/2 tsp of red chili Powder.With a sprinkle of water fry the masala along with the potatoes.

Add about 2 cups of celery very finely chopped and mix everything well. The celery should be chopped thinner than shown in pic. Add salt to taste and cover the saute pan, letting the celery cook. Every couple of minutes remove the cover and stir the vegetables until done.

Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. If needed add a tsp of Garam Masala.

Add the shrimp pieces, give a good mix and serve with dal and other dishes.

24 comments:

Being an adult is totally fabulous in spite of everything, especially if you get to cook and eat such tasty meals!

I thought entries for Of Chalks and Chopsticks were acceptable until June 9- that's what your event announcement says, so is it June 6 or 9? Clarify please, because I have a half-written story and would like to participate within the deadline :)

We use celery for stocks, risottos and just yesterday I put it in a methi pulao. I like that it looses it blends in with our Indian flavors and doesn't stand out. We are off seafood till the gulf oil crisis gets over, but celery will still be cooked. :)

And yes, I too thought growing up will be so much more fun. And it is except it was much more fun to be a kid.

Hi hi i too thought the same when i was young and I remember thinking i would never see 30 and so old as it is so so far but now I am in big 40 and i smile when i think about the time i thought about 30. I only started eating celery after comming ehre mostly in soups etc.... with shrimps this has to be yumm anyway.

To be an adult sucks if you ask me. If given a choice I could easily go back to when I was 10 and live bindaas, tomboy life on the top of the tree eating Guavas and raw Mangoes without a worry! HeHe!I love to eat tender, crunchy, juicy Celery dipped Blue Cheese! Slurp!! With Shrimp it must be really tasty.Sorry, my mind doesn't work these days to write a story for your event, enjoying all the stories written and sent you though. I am getting ready to take Summer break in 2 weeks. Just came home picking up Tushar from school, 3rd EOC(End of course) exam today, one more to go for him next week and after Thursday he will be home with Trisha too, got to plan a vacation to somewhere.Have a great weekend, see you next week!:)

Dear SandeepaHow are you? You are right, I also could not eat one can of milkmaid condensed milk every day..the dream remains.I like this dish, I take note that you have used roasted coriander powder..I must try ...I will spare the Garam masala in this dish.Bhalo theko

Aami celery stick shudu wings aar ceasar e khaayee! Am a bad, bad girl. Chingri with celery is new. But then you are the champ of new things. Saw the Chalk link... will try and send you something soon...

Same here.I keep buying celery,it is very cheap here in Melbourne, and then when it wilts away I discard it with a heavy heart.Cant bring myself to eat it except with dips.And now I find soups are a good way to use them up.Heard celery is very good for arthritis.

and yes, I am taking your advice and not going to pay too much money to get this - just the shrimps and we will be fine I think! Especially since I just posted on a topic which touches on the merits of eating local :)

Oh btw, the adults who came to my kid's 5th yesterday? were treated to some yummy home made(if I say so myself) chicken quiche, potato cheese balls and macaroni with watermelon cubes on the side - so you have an invitation for next year ;)

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine